PUTRAJAYA (Aug 5): Supermax Corp Bhd (KL:SUPERMX) founder Datuk Seri Stanley Thai’s appeal against contempt of court, along with his wife Datuk Cheryl Tan’s cross-appeal, is now back on track with all interim matters dealt with.

The hearing in the Court of Appeal over Thai’s contempt of court has been scheduled for Aug 14 after he withdrew his bid to overturn a decision in an interlocutory matter in their ongoing matrimonial assets dispute.

A Federal Court bench, led by Court of Appeal President Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Jais, was informed of Thai’s intention to withdraw the motion.

“However, there is an issue of costs where we are prepared to offer costs of RM5,000 while the respondent lawyers wanted RM50,000,” said Tan Han Rui from Messrs Shang & Co, the counsel for Thai.

Abu Bakar, who sat with Federal Court judges Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Azimah Omar, wanted Cheryl's counsels to reconsider, as the award of costs of RM50,000 at the apex court is normally given after a full hearing or submissions for leave to appeal.

Fredric Kong, who appeared with Jessica Leong and Avinash Kamalanathan of Messrs Bin & Associates, said they are objecting to the RM5,000 costs offered as Thai had filed a certificate of urgency for the motion to be heard and written submissions had already been filed.

The withdrawal was only considered after the appellate court had decided to fix Aug 14 for his and Cheryl’s cross-appeal, he noted. The dates of hearing at the appellate bench had been fixed earlier.

“We were only informed on Monday (Aug 3) over the withdrawal after written submissions have been put in,” Kong said. “We take note that the awarding of costs of RM50,000 is after a full hearing but we have incurred costs also due to the certificate of urgency and the work done.”

Kong is willing to settle for a cost of RM30,000. Han Rui, meanwhile, said she had received instructions to raise the offer to RM10,000.

After a short recess, Abu Bakar announced that the bench had unanimously agreed to the cost of RM25,000.

Thai is appealing the High Court’s decision that had found him to be in contempt of court last year and fined him RM60,000 for not fully disclosing his assets and bank accounts, while Cheryl has also filed a cross-appeal challenging his sentence.

He lost the attempt to get the court to bar the media from reporting his divorce spat and also the contempt against him. A decision granting the ban was overruled by the Court of Appeal as the higher bench allowed his wife to add more evidence in the contempt proceedings against Thai.

At the same time, Cheryl is appealing the High Court’s decision granting an injunction against her to prevent her from proceeding with the winding up of Supermax and preventing her from dealing with her assets.

She is also appealing the court’s decision in dismissing her application for interim maintenance.

The divorce proceedings, meanwhile, are playing out in the Family Court. In January 2024, the High Court had granted an ancillary relief injunction freezing 50% of Thai’s assets, including bank accounts, properties and shares, including that of Supermax.

They were married in August 1987. In 2022, Cheryl filed for judicial separation that would allow them to stay legally married while living apart. Thai filed for a divorce in 2024.

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